1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuser assembly, more particularly to a fuser assembly applicable to an electrophotographic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,421, there is disclosed a conventional fuser assembly for an electrophotographic device that includes a tubular roller, a heater disposed in the tubular roller, and a pressing roller that makes a point contact with the tubular roller.
In operation, when a recording medium with a toner image thereon is fed to the conventional fuser assembly, the toner image on the recording medium is subjected to heat generated by the heater via the tubular roller, by which the toner image is melted, and is subsequently pressed between the tubular roller and the pressing roller, by which the toner image is fixed on the recording medium.
Although the aforementioned conventional fuser assembly achieves its intended purpose, since the pressing roller makes only a point contact with the tubular roller, during operation of the fuser assembly, the toner image on the recording medium makes contact with the tubular roller within only a very short period of time. As such, the recording medium has to be fed very slowly to the conventional fuser assembly. The conventional fuser assembly can, therefore, be very inefficient. Moreover, since the tubular roller is made from a metallic pipe, undesirable curling of the recording medium occurs during operation of the conventional fuser assembly.
A fuser assembly has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,579 to solve the aforementioned problems. The proposed fuser assembly includes a tubular roller that is made from a thin film of polyimide, a support member disposed in the tubular roller, a heater mounted fixedly on the support member, and a pressing roller that presses the tubular roller against the support member and the heater. The proposed fuser assembly, however, is disadvantageous in that, since the heater is mounted fixedly on the support member, when the heater needs replacing, the support member has to be replaced as well.